Is a handwritten will valid in Florida? Holographic wills, oral wills and what the law requires

Under Fla. Stat. 732.502(1), a will must:

be in writing; be signed at the end by the testator, meaning the person making the will, or by someone else in the testator's presence and at their direction; be signed, or the signature acknowledged, in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses; and be signed by both witnesses in the presence of the testator and of each other.

The person must also be of sound mind and 18 or older, or an emancipated minor (732.501). No special wording is required (732.502(4)).

So handwriting isn't the problem. A will written entirely by hand and signed before two witnesses, who then sign, meets the statute. The law says so directly: a handwritten will executed this way "shall not be considered a holographic will" (732.502(2)). What fails is the handwritten will with no witnesses, or with one.

Many Palm Beach County residents signed their wills somewhere else. Florida generally accepts a will signed by a nonresident if it was valid where it was signed. The statute carves out two exceptions: holographic and nuncupative wills (732.502(2)). A handwritten, unwitnessed will that a court up north would have accepted is generally not a valid will in a Florida probate.

The out-of-state rule also only helps a will signed while the person was a nonresident. A will signed after moving to Florida must meet Florida's own formalities.

A nuncupative will is one spoken aloud, often near death, and never written down. Florida law opens its execution rules with "Every will must be in writing" (732.502), so an oral will has no effect on who inherits. A video of a parent describing their wishes isn't a will either, though it may matter in a dispute about capacity or undue influence.

Don't confuse this with health care documents. Florida does allow a witnessed oral statement to serve as a living will about life-prolonging procedures (Fla. Stat. 765.101(13)(b)). That rule covers medical care only, not property. Living will vs. last will explains the difference.

If a document isn't a valid will, property that would have passed under it generally passes by intestacy, Florida's default inheritance rules. For example, a surviving spouse takes everything if all the decedent's descendants are also the spouse's and the spouse has no other descendants (Fla. Stat. 732.102). Different family structures produce different results. These rules may not match what the note said.

Accounts with beneficiary forms, joint accounts with survivorship and trust assets usually aren't affected, because they pass outside the will.

A common version of this problem: someone writes "Give the boat to Mark" in the margin of a signed will, or crosses out a name. A codicil, meaning an amendment to a will, must be signed with the same formalities as a will (732.502(5)). An unwitnessed note in the margin generally doesn't change anything.

Worse, crossing out or defacing a will with the intent to revoke it can revoke it (Fla. Stat. 732.506). A pen can undo a plan.

One handwritten paper does work. A valid will may refer to a separate written list of tangible personal property, such as jewelry, art or furniture. The list must be signed and describe the items and recipients with reasonable certainty. It needs no witnesses and can be updated later (Fla. Stat. 732.515). It can't pass money, real estate or business property.

A self-proved will has an affidavit attached, in which the testator and both witnesses swear before a notary that the will was properly signed. The notary may be present in person or online (732.503). A self-proved will can be admitted to probate without further proof. Otherwise, the court generally needs the oath of a witness, and only if witnesses can't be found does it accept other oaths (733.201). Years later, finding a witness can be hard.

Florida also allows electronic wills, signed with an electronic signature. Witnesses may appear by audio-video technology, but only in an online notarization session supervised by a Florida online notary, with extra safeguards (732.522). An electronic will isn't a typed note on a phone. Signing estate documents online covers those rules.